Ingot mold with exothermic side boards

ABSTRACT

2. IN COMBINATION WITH AN OPEN-ENDED MOLD, A PAIR OF EXOTHERMIC PLATES, EACH SEPARATELY SUSPENDED FROM THE TOP SURFACE OF THE MOLD BY RODS EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY ABOVE SAID PLATES AND RESTING ON TOP OF SAID MOLD, SAID PLATES EXTENDING INTO THE MOLD CAVITY IN SPACED RELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER, A SEPARATE DEVICE LOCATED BETWEEN AND ENGAGING EACH SAID PLATE AND THE SIDE WALL OF THE MOLD, AND MEANS LOCATED BETWEEN AND ENGAGING SAID PLATES AND HOLDING EACH PLATE IN AN INCLINED POSITION WITH ITS LOWER EDGE ENGAGING SAID SIDE WALL AND ITS UPPER EDGE SPACED THEREFROM.

Scpt- 20, 1971 R. E. FERREE 3,606,240

INGOT MOLD WITH EXOTHERMIC SIDE BOARDS Filed Feb. l0, 1961 v INVENTOR. Roy E. Ferree HIS ATTORNE YS 3,606,240 INGOT MOLD WITH EXOTHERMIC SIDE BOARDS Roy E. Ferree, Valencia, Pa., assignor to The Susquehanna Corporation Filed Feb. 10, 1961, Ser. No. 88,442 Int. Cl. B22d 7/10 U.S. Cl. 249-106 2 Claims This invention relates to apparatus for increasing ingot yield, and more particularly to side boards applied to ingot molds for shaping the feed zone of such molds to desired configurations for producing increased yields.

Due to the inherent shrinkage and resulting piping formed during solidiication of cast ingots, it is often necessary to crop that portion of the ingot containing the pipe, thus resulting in low metal yield. In the past, hot tops have been utilized in an endeavor to decrease the amount of material which must be cropped and thereby produce an increased yield. Although such hot tops generally surround and extend upwardly from the mouth of the ingot mold cavity, some hot tops prdject downwardly within the upper portion of the mold cavity. The hot tops are commonly made of low heat conductive refractory material, and may have exothermic portions therein so that the feed area will remain molten for a longer period of time than the remainder of the ingot to thus reduce the amount of piping and accordingly the amount of material which must be cropped.

The use of hot tops as a solution to the yield problem has not been completely satisfactory, since hot tops are of a non-permanent nature, and therefore it is necessary to install a new hot top for each teeming. Accordingly, the industry has found the time and cost involved in replacing such hot tops after each teeming to be objectionable. Further, since each hot top is preformed to snugly fit on or in a particular ingot mold, a rather large stock of these bulky hot tops must be maintained where a variety of molds are used, thus creating an objectionable storage and inventory problem. Also, where irregular-shaped ingot molds, such as uted and bellied molds are used, the standard shape downwardly-projecting hot tops are inoperable, since the irregular shaped molds do not provide suicient backing for the hot tops, and molten metal is free to seep between the mold wall and the hot top.

Therefore, in order to eliminate the disadvantages of hot tops while retaining the advantage of increased yield, I have devised the use of contoured side boards, permanent in nature, which are removably positionable along a pair of opposed inner surfaces of the feed area of an ingot mold. Such contoured side boards not only function to shape the feed area and reduce the volume of metal which must be cropped, but also provide smooth walled backing surface's for exothermic side boards in molds having irregular shaped interiors.

It thus has been an object of my invention to eliminate the disadvantages heretofore encountered with hot tops while retaining the advantage of increased yield;

A further object of my invention.` has been to provide means for shaping the feed zone of ingot molds which, although permanent in nature, may be easily removed or replaced;

An additional object of my invention has been to provide contoured side boards which not only shape the feed zone or area of smooth walled ingot molds, but also which provide permanent planar backing surfaces for exothermic inserts and the like in irregular shaped molds;

These and other objects of my invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following disclosure and accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. l is a top plan view of a corrugated ingot mold equipped with contoured side boards embodying my invention,

United States Patent C) 3,606,240 Patented Sept. 20, 1971 ICC FIG. 2 is a fragmental sectional view, the section being taken along the lines II--II of FIG. 1 and discloses how side boards embodying my invention are held in place in the mold are'so positioned therein as to shape the feed area of the mold and also provide permanent planar backing surfaces for positioning inserts such as exothermic boards;

FIG. 3 is a fragmental transverse sectional view of an ingot mold having a plane sided mold cavity equipped with exothermic side boards embodying my invention; the view also illustrates one method of removably mounting the side boards in desired positions within the mold;\

FIG. 4 is a fragmental top plan view of a bellied ingot mold illustrating the positioning therein of a contoured, exothermic side board embodying my invention; and,

FIG. 5 is a fragmental sectional view, the section being taken along lines V-V of FIG. 4, and discloses that the contoured backing boards of my invention may be so formed and so positioned within an ingot mold as to support the exothermic side boards in the desired position within the mold.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly FIGS. l and 2, the ingot mold 10 shown, is provided with a corrugated inner surface 11. Each contoured backing board 13 laterally supports an exothermic side board and aids in shaping the feed area of the ingot mold. Each backing board is removably retained in place against a lateral interior surface 12 of the mold 10 by suitable means such, for example, as bolts 14. Each side board 13 shown, has a formed rear surface 15 which engages the inner longitudinally extending side surface 12, against which it is firmly secured by the bolts 14. As shown, each side board 13 has an inclined plane front surface 16 which not only contributes to the shaping of the feed area of the mold 10, but also provides a plane backing surface for an insert, such as an exothermic board 17.

When it is desired to provide additional heat to the feed zone, exothermic side boards 17 may be positioned therein, with each contoured side board 13 providing a smooth surface backing for one exothermic board. The exothermic boards 17 may be supported in place within the feed area by means of rods 18 and hangers 19 on which they are hung. The rods 18 overlie the top edge of the mold 10 and extend through loops in the hangers 19. Each hanger is imbedded within an exothermic board 17. A pair of cross braces or bars 20 are extended across the ingot mold between the exothermic boards 17 and hold the boards in position during the pouring of the molten metal into the ingot mold. The braces or rods 20 are fusible and when fused are included as a part of the molten metal in the mold. As soon as the molten metal reaches the exothermic boards, the ferrostatic pressure of the metal retains the rods in position against the side until the metal entering the mold holds the boards 16 in place.

FIG. 3 illustrates a mold 10a having a smooth inner surface 11a-12a. A pair of contoured side boards 13a, having smooth rear surfaces 15a which supplement the smooth opposed lateral side surfaces of the mold, are shown removably retained in position within the mold by bolts 14a. Since the inner surface 11a of the smoothwalled ingot mold 10a is plane, i.e., uncorrugated, it provides adequate backing for the side boards which in turn may back up and support exothermic boards. However, even though the inner surface 11a-12a of the mold 10a provides a smooth backing for the side boards 13, it may be desirable to employ side boards with contoured inner surfaces to shape the surface of the feed area of the mold.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a mold 10b having an inner surfac 11b with bellied side surfaces 12b. Contoured or side boards 13b are retained in position within the bellied or recessed portions of the mold by means of bolts 14b.

Each side board 13b has a back surface 15b which complements the contour of the bellied surface 12b of the mold. In addition, each side board 13b has a substantially vertical plane front surface 16b to provide a backing for an insert, such as an exothermic side board 17b. As shown in FIG. 5, each side board 13b may be provided with an inclined bottom surface 16'b to produce a more uniform upward flow of the molten metal between the side boards as the metal rises in the mold.

When the exothermic boards 17b are employed they are hung supported by rods 18h and are positioned in the mold so that each is backed up by a side board 13b, with its substantially vertical surfaces 16h providing a plane backing for the exotherrnic board. Rods or braces 20b extend across the lateral extent of the mold b between the exotherrnic boards 1717 to maintain them in their substantially vertical position while molten metal is being poured into the mold.

Since the side boards embodying my invention are removably secured to the ingot mold within the feeding area, it is possible to remove the boards and replace them with the boards of another configuration, so that the design or shape of the feed zone of a mold may be modified as desired. The contoured side boards are preferably made of cast iron, ductile iron, or steel, and accordingly are of a permanent nature and have a life approximately equal to that of the ingot mold. Also, since my contoured side boards complement the interior surface of contoured ingot molds, I have eliminated the need of supplying temporary backing material, which was previously required, when exothermic boards were utilized in such molds.

As shown in the drawings, my contoured side boards differ in construction from hot tops in that they do not extend entirely around the interior upper surface of the mold cavity, but merely extend transversely along the opposed inner side surfaces of the mold. In rectangularly shaped molds, the side boards are preferably positioned along the transversely extending inner side faces of the mold. Accordingly, since the side boards are substantially at, as compared to hot tops, a plurality of such contoured side boards may be conveniently stored in a limited area. Further, since it is not necessary for the exothermic boards to extend the full transverse length of the ingot mold, it is possible to utilize standard sized exothermic boards for a variety of ingot molds, thus materially reducing storage and inventory previously necessary with the preformed hot tops.

My contoured side boards are particularly applicable to the casting of killed and alloy steel ingots. The contoured side 4boards reduce the horizontal cross sectional area of the upper portion of the ingot which is normally cropped. Accordingly, the amount of metal which is subsequently cropped from the ingot and discarded is reduced. Such a reduction in the amount of metal discarded from each ingot, results in increased metal yield. Further, when the exothermic boards are utilized and backed by the contoured side boards, not only is the volume of the feeding zone of the mold shaped and reduced by the side boards, but also the heat obtained from the use of the downwardly-projecting exothermic boards results in shallow cavities at the tops of the ingots rather than the usual V-shaped pipings and accordingly, less cropping is necessary, which further increases ingot yield.

Further advantages producing economic savings are achieved with the use of my contoured side boards over the known types of hot tops, in that the side boards do not require crane service such as is necessary when yhot tops are employed. In addition, there is no need to provide seals at the top of the mold such as is necessary with hot tops. Other advantages result from the fact that apparatus embodying my invention is applicable to big-end-down ingot molds wherein stripping is easier and less wear is produced on the molds. Although only the preferred bigend-down molds are shown in the drawings, it will be understood, of course, that the invention is also applicable to big-end-up ingot molds.

Although I have disclosed preferred forms of contoured side boards embodying my invention, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modications may be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In an ingot mold for casting steel ingots wherein the mold has a tapered mold cavity with irregular inner surface portions, means for shaping the upper feed area portion of the mold cavity comprising, a pair 0f wedgeshaped members of permanent construction removably retained within the feed area portion of said mold cavity adjacent a pair of opposed inner surfaces thereof, said Wedge-shaped members having preformed back surfaces to complement the irregular inner surfaces of said mold cavity against which they are retained, and said members having a pair of opposed upwardly-converging inclined planar surfaces covered with exothermic material and projecting inwardly of said opposed inner surfaces to modify the contour of the feed zone area of said mold cavity.

2. In combination with an open-ended mold, a pair of exothermic plates, each separately suspended from the top surface of the mold by rods extending longitudinally above said plates and resting on top of said mold, said plates extending into the mold cavity in spaced relationship to each other; a separate device located between and engaging each saidA plate and the side wall of the mold; and means located between and engaging said plates and holding each plate in an inclined position with its lower edge engaging said side wall and its upper edge spaced therefrom.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,667,289 4/ 1928 Gathmann 240-160 3,432,138 3/ 1969 Shepherd et al 249-106 2,444,838 7/1948 Marburg 249-199 2,698,094 12/1954 Simpson 287-58X 2,821,758 2/ 195 8 Vallak 249-197X 2,873,492 2/1959 Vallak 249-200 2,925,637 2/ 1960 Edmonds et al 249-201 FOREIGN PATENTS 343,535 8/ 1904 France 249-106 738,128 10/ 1955 Great Britain 249-201 838,676 6/ 1960 Great Britain 249-200 ROBERT D. BALDWIN, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 249-200 

